My Enemy's Daughter
by Zyclotar
Summary: Nyssa wakes up on New Urbanka. Can she trust the people there?
1. Chapter 1

My Enemy's Daughter, Part One: New Urbanka

Nyssa opened her eyes with a gasp. She didn't recognize the surroundings, and sat up quickly.

Villagra took her hand. "Easy, Nyssa, you're all right. Everything is going to be fine."

Nyssa stared wide-eyed at the Mayan princess. Her gaze took in the rest of the chamber: it appeared to be a hospital room, with a stone floor and Ionic columns at the doorway and corners. "What? Where am I? What's going on?" She blinked. "Princess Villagra? I thought you'd vowed not to speak until you were reunited with your people on Earth!"

The princess nodded. "Alas, the Doctor explained that, though my people's descendants still live on Earth, our culture has vanished into history. As I cannot return to my people, I must find a new people."

Nyssa stared at her. "My friends, the Doctor, Tegan, Adric -"

"They are all fine," Villagra promised. "At least, they were when I last saw them."

Nyssa swung her legs off the hospital bed. "I need to see them!" She paused when Villagra's face fell. "What is it?"

"They are gone, Nyssa."

"What?" Icy fear gripped Nyssa's heart. "No, they would not leave me!"

The princess's expression was unreadable. "There is something I must tell you." To Nyssa's horror, Villagra pointed at a place on the young woman's chest: an access port.

Nyssa went white. "No... no... no!" She slid off the bed and fell to her knees. "I did not want this - what did you do to me? You turned me into a ... the last thing I remember... Enlightenment... looking into her eyes..." She swallowed hard. "I was hypnotised, and then you changed me into this - thing -"

"Nyssa, wait," Villagra said gently. "Let me show you something." She addressed a computer monitor on the wall. "Control, show records of Monarch's death."

To Nyssa's shock, the monitor displayed a video of the Urbankan tyrant's fall, a victim of his own poison. Afterwards, she watched the Doctor, Tegan, and Adric - accompanied by herself - enter the TARDIS.

"This means... I'm just an android!" the young woman exclaimed. She put her hand to her heart - a heart that she knew was no longer there. Everything that made her Nyssa had been stolen. "I'm not even the real Nyssa," she cried. "I'm just a copy. A clone. A robot clone! How could you do this to me? This isn't the life I wanted - if you can even call it life!"

"It's true, Monarch copied your memories and your personality," the princess said. "Given the ethical considerations of creating a duplicate of a person without their consent, we debated for a long time whether to awaken you in an android copy of your body. Finally, someone persuaded us to give you the choice. She would like to speak with you, if you're ready."

Nyssa rose from the floor and brushed off her Trakenian garb, struggling to regain some dignity. What was she going to do? She considered Villagra's statement, then nodded. Who could possibly want to see her? The only other non-Urbankans she'd met on Monarch's ship had been men.

Villagra spoke out the doorway. "She's ready."

In glided a tall woman in a light green skirt. Over it, she wore a deep green brocade robe with a gentle pattern of white flowers. Lovely long blonde hair flowed over her right shoulder almost to her waist, and she had stunning green eyes.

"Enlightenment," Nyssa gasped. She stepped backwards and bumped into the hospital bed, her hand on her chest.

The woman shook her head. "No, Nyssa. The woman you knew as the Minister of Enlightenment was my mother. My name is Adana."

The clothes were different - Earth's Shang Dynasty instead of late Twentieth Century - and her shining blonde hair was longer. The features were the same, but her face and her voice seemed slightly younger, and the woman's expression was far gentler than Enlightenment's had ever been. Could it be true, Nyssa wondered.

"Will you two be all right? I imagine Adana has a lot of explaining to do," Villagra said.

Adana nodded, and the Mayan princess departed. Nyssa took a deep breath - this was too much to process. Then something struck her.

"Wait a moment. I'm a copy. My body is an android. Why am I breathing?"

Adana sat down on the bed next to her. "Urbankan androids are meant to mimic life, and to give us the sensations that we had when we were in -" she made a face "-Flesh Time. You don't need to breathe, but your body does it unless you consciously decide to stop. Your chest will keep on moving even in a vacuum. Besides, if you stop breathing, you won't be able to talk or to smell anything."

Nyssa nodded. "So the Doctor is gone, along with the real me. I'm stuck here." She paused. "Why are you here? Where are Bigon and Lin Futu and Kirkutji?" She stood up. "And why do you look like that?"

Adana smiled. "I'm here because I wanted to be. I was the one who insisted we craft you a body like your old one and wake you up. I believe we need you."

"Why?"

Adana rose, moved over to the silk curtain, and drew it aside. Nyssa walked over to her - and saw an amazing settlement.

A Greek temple stood in the centre, with a Chinese pavilion beside it. A Mayan step pyramid rose in the distance. There were many other buildings, with a mixture of those three styles - and even angular wooden houses that suggested Australian inspiration. Dozens of people - human-looking people - worked on more buildings at the edge of the settlement.

"Welcome to New Urbanka," Adana said kindly.

"I don't understand," Nyssa said. "If you're all Urbankans, why don't you look like Urbankans? Why do your buildings look like Earth buildings? Why aren't you building Urbankan houses? What about your own culture?"

"We didn't have a culture," Adana sighed. "Monarch controlled everything on Urbanka for most of our history. The buildings were all the same - featureless gray squares, like our ship. Anyone who created art, music, literature was sentenced to hard labour. He enjoyed recreationals, but even those came from our visits to Earth. Monarch was our culture, and we are glad to be rid of him."

"I thought all Urbankans worshipped him," Nyssa said. "That's what Bigon told the Doctor."

Adana shook her head. "Monarch lied to Bigon. He may have even lied to himself. Those of us who opposed him were too afraid of him to fight back. That's why you are one of our greatest heroines."

"What? Me?"

Adana nodded, and touched Nyssa's hand gently. "Bigon and the others learned my story from Monarch's records, which is why I was one of the first Urbankans they woke up - and why they gave me the android body my mother made for herself. As you can see, I made an improvement or two." Adana slid a hand over her long hair. "I think human hair is very beautiful."

Nyssa studied the Urbankan woman. "This is all going so fast. I don't even know if I'm real."

Adana looked at her softly. "Do you feel real?"

Nyssa stood up, stretched, looked in the mirror, and then sat down again. "I feel real."

"Then you are real as any of us," Adana said, touching Nyssa's hand again.

"You said you had a story?"

The green-clad woman nodded. "My mother was one of Monarch's chief advisors, as you know. What you may not know is that Monarch's rule on Urbanka was not as popular as he wanted everyone to believe. Everything his government said was a lie, everything it did was about him, with anyone and everyone else of no concern. There were many, many dissenters, but any he found out about were killed.

"I was lucky. I hated Monarch but he wouldn't move against me because he valued my mother's loyalty. I tried to reason with her, to get her to temper his tyranny. But she worshipped him."

Adana looked at the floor. "Monarch considered love a fantasy. By the time she became Minster of Enlightenment, so did my mother. She forgot what it was like to love, if she ever knew. It was more important to her to serve Monarch than it was to be my mother."

Nyssa touched Adana's hand. She wasn't sure whether to believe this story, but she felt compassion for the Urbankan woman, and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"My mother did not report me to Monarch, though, so I was free to do as I pleased for a time - until his campaign to relieve us of Flesh Time." Adana's face hardened. "I was one of many who refused. But Monarch's assisters came in the night and replaced everyone with android copies who were unable to act against him. I confronted my mother and told her I would talk to our astronauts and build my own ship and leave Urbanka before they did that to me.

"And then my mother hypnotised me. I remember waking up in an android body. I felt - well, I think I felt how you must feel now."

"Your own mother?" Nyssa said, horrified. She felt a tightness in her chest, a revulsion at what Monarch and Enlightenment had done - then realised that her android body had responded to her emotions exactly as her original body had.

Adana nodded. "She said it was for the best and that I'd understand in time. She said she'd made me immortal and how grateful we must be that Monarch had developed this gift to save us from our polluted planet - after Monarch was the one who had poisoned Urbanka in the first place. Yes, I suppose we can live forever, but Monarch installed a fail-safe. We had free will, unless we stood up to him. I never spoke to my mother ever again."

Nyssa nodded. "My stepmother was deceived by a tyrant - a man who called himself the Master. He killed her, then killed my father, then unleashed a disaster that destroyed my whole world."

"Will you go for a walk with me? Wait a moment. There is something I want to show you." Adana addressed the monitor. "Control, show us the record of Nyssa's interview with Monarch."

For Nyssa, it had only been a few hours since she'd stood in the Urbankan throne room and defied the autocrat. Adana, however, was enraptured - she gazed reverently at the video.

"That is why I wanted to wake you up," Adana said when it finished. "You defied Monarch. You are exactly the kind of person New Urbanka needs. You believe in freedom and love!" The alien woman paused. "I know exactly how you must feel, knowing that your memories and personality were copied onto nanochips in an android body, but I want to make my life here work, and I hope you will want that too."

Nyssa shook her head. "I spoke my mind. That doesn't make me a heroine, Adana."

"It does to me," the beautiful alien replied. "But watch this. I know you don't remember this, but look what happened after your memories were copied. Control, show us the record of when Monarch ordered the Doctor's execution."

Nyssa gasped, but turned to the video - and saw her original self thwart Monarch's soldiers with a sonic screwdriver and a pencil.

"See?" Adana said. "Nyssa of Traken, you are brave, and intelligent, and moral. Your quick thinking saved your friends' lives. Please, let me show you our settlement."

Nyssa nodded. The two young women left the hospital, and Adana guided Nyssa on a tour. "New Urbanka is perfect for us," the alien woman explained. "It's very much like Earth - and I suppose what Traken must have been. It has minerals and some plant life, but the highest animals are insects, so we're not disturbing any sentient life by settling here."

"That's moral of you."

"Bigon insisted on it. He has been named interim president until we have revived enough people to hold an election. His Athenians are our largest group." She motioned to a number of people in chilton garments and himation cloaks.

Nyssa stopped in her tracks. "Let me get this straight. Your people are adopting Athenian culture? And clothing?"

"Some are," Adana told her. "Bigon and the others decided the first Urbankans they revived would be those most likely to embrace a future without Monarch. It turned out I wasn't the only dissenter. Many of us disliked him so much we were happy for something different. A majority of us prefer a human appearance, down to the clothes. We're using Earth architecture as well, as everything Urbankan reminds us of Monarch.

"We have been adopting Mayan, Chinese and Australian ways too," Adana said, gesturing to her Asian robe. "I was hoping you could tell us of Traken."

"Traken?" Nyssa echoed. "But why are you interested in my home? We never even met before today."

Adana stopped and turned to face the other woman, and took Nyssa's hands in her own. "The culture that produced you must be amazing, Nyssa. You're a scientist, a woman of education, intellect, courage. Bigon told me how the Doctor described your home planet - a whole empire held together by people being nice to each other. That is what New Urbanka needs - not more tyranny."

The beautiful alien's green eyes shone. For a moment Nyssa remembered Enlightenment's hypnotic powers, how she'd been tempted to surrender herself to the alien minister's green eyes - but that was not who Adana was. Unlike her mother, she did not see Nyssa as a tool to be used.

"A place like Traken," Adana continued, "a place of advanced science, of compassion - is the example New Urbanka should follow. You can help us. Traken's morality can be part of our new culture, along with Athenian democracy and Australian spirituality." The alien woman gazed at her, not with arrogance, but with hope.

Nyssa did not reply, and Adana let go of her hands and dropped her gaze to the ground. "Oh, Nyssa, I'm sorry," the blonde woman said. "I must be putting a lot of pressure on you. You don't have to answer straight away."

Nyssa touched the alien's arm. "Like you said, this can't be any worse than what you went through when you woke to find out you'd been turned into an android. But I have a hope now that you didn't have back then. We have a future without Monarch."

The two women continued walking, with Adana pointing out the sights. Though many Urbankans had chosen human form, a few retained their original appearance. Others chose something in-between. A few had chosen even more exotic looks - with blue or purple skin. Most had adopted a visage smoother than the Urbankan norm.

Adana introduced her to many of them.

"I feel like Alice in Wonderland," Nyssa told Adana after meeting a blue-skinned Urbankan with Tiger-like stripes.

"Who?"

"Oh - it's an Earth children's story."

"You must tell me about it sometime," Adana said with a smile.

"Speaking of hope," Nyssa said as they arrived at the Chinese pavilion, "the fail-safe! How can we have freedom, have democracy, if whoever controls the fail-safe can stop anyone from standing up for themselves?"

"The fail-safe has been disabled," Adana said gently. "All new android bodies are being built without it. Lin Futu fixed my own and the others', too. And yours."

Nyssa thought for a moment. "I just realized," she added, "We've been walking for over an hour and I don't feel tired. I wouldn't have chosen this, Adana, but maybe it's not all bad."

"Oh, I agree," the alien woman said. "If I had a choice to return to Flesh Time, I would - but this way I can look in the mirror and not be reminded of Monarch." She caressed her own smooth cheek. "On Urbanka I was infamous for my love of hats." She swished her long hair around with a grin, then gathered it up and let it fall over her shoulder. "My mother may have based this body on a sketch your friend made, but with this lovely human-looking hair I don't need hats anymore."

"That's a question!" Nyssa said. "I know these android bodies are very sophisticated. Do we eat? Does our hair grow? Do our nails? I'm not tired - do we sleep?"

Adana smiled. "No food required. Our batteries are self-charging. Our hair and nails don't grow, but they can break - in which case we can go to a Mobilliary and get them replaced. They're just proteins, which are easy to grow."

Nyssa started to smile. "Can we go to one?"

Adana smiled back at her and looped an arm through hers. "Of course! We only have the one at the moment, but there will be more when we have more settlements."

"What about sleep?" Nyssa asked as they walked.

"Everyone needs rest," Adana explained. "Being androids means we don't get tired, but we still have organic psychology even if we don't have organic bodies. We don't get sleepy, exactly, but after being awake for twenty hours or so we do start to get fatigued. At that point we need to go to a dark room and close our eyes - some people like to lie down - and quiet our minds. We let our thoughts become random and enter a sort of dream state while our reason nanochip indexes our new memories. It's more like meditation than sleep, but it's easy to master, and it only takes an hour or two to refresh and regain focus." The alien woman grinned. "I - er - took a quick look at your personality profile when we were installing your nanochips into your body. I'm confident that you'll pick it up in no time, especially with your telepathic ability. If you need any help, you can talk to Kirkutji - or I would be happy to hypnotise you."

This stopped Nyssa in her tracks. "You can do that?"

Adana nodded. "Hypnosis comes easily to Urbankans. It's a tool we used to help each other - but then Monarch used it to promote his regime, then to force everyone to give up Flesh Time." She sighed. "Monarch ruined everything he touched."

Nyssa shuddered. "I'm not sure what I think about hypnosis. I know it can be put to good uses, but when Enlightenment..." She paused. "Something in me knew it was a bad idea, but it happened anyway."

"I am so sorry you went through that," Adana said earnestly. "If it helps, I know exactly what you went through, as my mother did that to me, too." She brightened. "At least there is one benefit."

"What's that?"

"When they copied your memories, and intellect, and personality onto the nanochip set," Adana explained, "you were given the Urbankan abilities that the nanochips were originally designed for. I'm sure you can use hypnosis as well as any Urbankan." She smiled. "With that genius-level intelligence of yours, I'm sure you'll be an expert in no time. I know you're a biologist and cyberneticist, but I'm sure you'd be an amazing therapist, as well."

Nyssa nodded, but then she thought of something else. "You said telepathic ability?"

Adana looked at her oddly. "Yes, you're telepathic."

Nyssa looked at her blankly.

"Didn't you know?" Adana asked.

Nyssa shook her head.

Adana thought for a moment. "Telepathy isn't something that ever existed on Urbanka. We copied your brain patterns exactly, so you should be able to do it just like you did in Flesh Time - or could in Flesh Time. Even Lin Futu doesn't know how to wire someone's nanochips for telepathy if they didn't have it innately. I think this is a unique event in our science, Nyssa. You have a power you didn't know you had."

As the two arrived at the Mobilliary, Nyssa closed her eyes and took some deep, steady breaths. After a moment she opened her eyes and the two women went inside.

"What was that?" Adana asked curiously.

"I wanted to see if I could read anyone's thoughts," Nyssa said with a quick smile. "I have no extra-sensory perception at all, as far as I can tell."

"Meditate on it," Adana recommended. "If you'd like we can try hypnosis. I'm available to help you whenever you'd like. By the way, why are we here?"

Nyssa smiled.

The two women emerged a few minutes later. Nyssa looked exactly the same - except that her long brown curls now tumbled down to her waist.

"I like it," Adana told her. "I like it a lot. It suits you. You look very beautiful, Nyssa." She reached forward, then hesitated. "May I?"

With a smile, Nyssa nodded, and the other woman gave Nyssa's hair a gentle caress. "Wearing our hair this long wasn't a fashion on Traken," Nyssa said, "but I suppose this is a good time to try new things."

Adana caressed Nyssa's hair again. "Then you think you'll stay with us?"

Nyssa nodded. "I miss the Doctor, Tegan, and Adric. I miss my home. But here, I can put the skills I learned on Traken to use helping others. This isn't the life I would have chosen, Adana, but since I'm here I will make the most of it. It's what my father would want, what the Doctor would want, what my friends would want, and what the other me would want. I may not be real, but I feel real. If your people are truly interested, I would be proud to teach you about Traken."

Adana embraced the other woman, and Nyssa gently hugged her back. "Thank you, Nyssa," Adana murmured into Nyssa's hair. "Thank you."

Adana stepped back, but neither young woman let go. Instead, Nyssa found herself gazing into the alien woman's eyes - but unlike the time she'd been captured by Enlightenment's stare, there was no coldness or calculation. Adana's eyes held nothing but kindness.

The mutual stare went on, and Nyssa felt butterflies in her stomach. "Your eyes are getting heavy," she murmured suddenly. "They are getting heavier, and heavier, and heavier."

Adana's eyelids fluttered, then opened wide. Both women broke into giggles. The blonde woman stepped back, but her hands slid down Nyssa's arms and gently took her hands again.

"You want to practice now?" she asked.

Nyssa shook her head. "Sorry. I couldn't help it."

"I'm sorry too," Adana said. She squeezed Nyssa's hands lightly, and Nyssa squeezed back. "I don't mean to pressure you. It's just - I know Urbankans and Trakenians are biologically dissimilar, but Trakenian eyes are very much like Urbankan eyes, and yours are very beautiful, Nyssa."

"You're not pressuring me," Nyssa whispered.

"I really like your eyes," Adana murmured.

"I like yours too," Nyssa told her. They were staring into each other's eyes again, and both women smiled softly. Nyssa would never have dared gaze into Enlightenment's eyes again, but Adana was nothing like her mother. The alien woman's vivid green eyes were soft and gentle.

The next thing either of them knew, they were kissing.

When they finally separated, they hugged each other again, laughing and smiling. "Would you like to see my chambers?" Adana asked.

"Of course," Nyssa grinned. Holding hands, the alien woman led her down the path towards the residences, towards the sunset.

Adana drew Nyssa's hand to her lips and kissed it. "I'm reminded of your words to Monarch."

"Which ones?"

"He said he had overthrown tyranny - external and internal organs. You asked him about love."

Nyssa blinked. "I don't think I said anything quite so elegant!"

"You did," Adana said.

Nyssa looked at her oddly. "How many times did you watch that?"

The alien woman smiled shyly. "About a hundred."

"A hundred!"

"Yes, well, as you can see I was quite taken with you." Adana paused. "My point is, Nyssa, Monarch replaced the so-called tyranny of Flesh Time with his own. And you overthrew it."

"Well, I helped."

"Yes, you helped," Adana said. "You did it with love."


	2. Chapter 2

My Enemy's Daughter, Part Two: The Ghosts of Traken

TWENTY YEARS LATER

With a sigh, Nyssa threw her briefcase on the table and flopped in the nearest armchair. She wasn't physically tired, but she was emotionally exhausted.

Adana appeared in the doorway. "Tough day, love?"

Nyssa nodded as Adana glided over and put her arms around her. She smiled contentedly as the Urbankan woman caressed her long hair.

After a moment Nyssa rose, led Adana to the sofa, and the two sat down next to each other. "How bad was it?" the blonde woman asked, taking Nyssa's hand.

"I understand the Minister's position," Nyssa explained. "He said that if we reveal New Urbankan technology to the rest of the galaxy, it will be the end of evolution, of life as we know it. I do see what he means, Adana, but surely - since we have the means to aid those with terminal illnesses, shouldn't we do it? It's the compassionate thing to do - and we wouldn't be like Monarch, forcing it on people who don't want it. Everyone would have a choice!"

"Nyssa, you know I trust your judgement absolutely," Adana said, "and I'd support you if you decided to stand for Council President - but I think the Justice Minister may be right."

Nyssa looked at the other woman quizzically.

"You've said that we should offer Urbankan technology to the terminally ill," Adana said gently. "That it might comfort them to know that someone with their memories and personality could continue their work when they are gone."

Nyssa nodded. "A dying mother could be assured that their children would always have someone to look after them - someone who loved them, and someone they could trust completely! It wouldn't be them, exactly, but it would be like a twin."

"But what if he's right?" Adana asked. "How would we judge which planets, which societies, are ready for Urbankan technology? What if we share it with a world, and they decide that only their nobles or rich people deserve it? What if we share it with a king who makes himself immortal and never leaves the throne? How would a nation progress then, with a king who's been king forever, will live forever, and is too powerful to stop?"

Nyssa closed her eyes and nodded. "Monarch."

"Would we want to be responsible for that?" Adana asked. "Our society may someday reach the point where we can no longer change or grow because we cannot have children or bring in new members - but we didn't have a choice about being this way. If we share our technology with people who do have a choice, eventually those who benefit from our technology will reverse engineer it."

"And no children, and no evolution," Nyssa said with a sigh. She gazed at the blonde woman. "And maybe tyranny of the invincible elites over those in Flesh Time. Or vice versa - those in Flesh Time use the androids as slaves. Expendable people.

"The Doctor once told me that death is the price we pay for progress. It sounded harsh at the time, but I understood what he meant.

"There has to be a compromise, Adana. You're right, we have a responsibility to the future as well as a responsibility to those in need - but then I see people dying of Petrifold Regression and think we must do something."

"Maybe we can," Adana said. "We can use our knowledge to help cure diseases without turning people into androids."

Nyssa frowned, and laid her head on Adana's shoulder. "I have a background in biology, but I'm no doctor, and Monarch threw out much of what Urbankans knew about biology. He thought we'd never need it again."

Adana started. "I didn't know that!"

Nyssa nodded. "I found out when I became Science Minister. Urbankan science is quite advanced in many ways, but we're far behind our contemporaries in organic medicine. If we're going to help other planets we have a lot of catching up to do."

"Well, we do have the time," the blonde woman said.

"You and I do," Nyssa agreed, "but the dying don't. We've built so much here, Adana, but I feel we should be doing more."

A few minutes later, Nyssa was looking over her notes when she heard Adana's voice from the next room. "Nyssa, I think there's something here you should see."

Nyssa recognized the blonde woman's tone: something peculiar was going on, but there was no immediate danger. Frowning, Nyssa followed Adana's voice.

A large chair made of elaborate golden wood and green upholstery stood in the centre of the usually sparse room. In the chair sat a man in gray robes, long gray hair, and a short gray beard.

"LUVIC!" Nyssa cried.

Adana watched in amazement as the two embraced each other.

"I thought you were dead," Nyssa sobbed into the visitor's shoulder.

"I am lucky - very lucky - to be alive," the old man said kindly. "And to have found you again after all these years!"

"How did you survive?" Nyssa asked. She wiped the tears from her cheeks as the visitor smiled at her.

"A rather long story involving the Source and a charged-vacuum emboitment," Luvic said. "I will tell you all about it. But first, who is your friend?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Nyssa said. She rose and extended her hand to Adana, who took it. "Adana, I would like to present my dear friend Luvic, the Keeper of Traken. Luvic, may I introduce Adana, my wife."

"Minister of Science for New Urbanka," Luvic said proudly. "Nyssa, I knew you were destined for great things. Your father would be very proud."

"Thank you," Nyssa said softly.

"After that dreadful business with the Melkur I realized my predecessor had been right, that Tremas should have been his successor," the Keeper told her. "I would have chosen him for mine, as well, but I am sorry to say we never found him after he disappeared."

Nyssa sighed, and took her friend's hand. "Luvic, I have terrible news." She pursed her lips and blinked a few times. Adana, recognizing the expression, gently placed her hands on Nyssa's shoulders. "The Doctor and I found out what happened to him," Nyssa explained. "He was murdered by the Master - the man who was controlling Melkur."

Luvic gasped, his eyes going round with shock. "Oh, my. Nyssa, I am so sorry. I am sorry I did not know, sorry I could not save him."

"It's a long time ago now," Nyssa said.

"That may be true, but you still miss him," Adana put in. "Your love and loyalty are some of your best qualities."

"Thank you," Nyssa said, smiling up at her.

"That is quite true," Luvic said, "which is why I was thinking of designating you as my successor before you left." Nyssa gaped, but the Keeper smiled and continued. "I think we both know that things are different now, Nyssa, but I'm hoping there is still something you can do for Traken."

"What is it?"

"To put it frankly, we need your help," Luvic said.

"Our satellites detected the entropy wave ten minutes before it hit," the Keeper of Traken explained. "We had no time to plan, no time to prepare, no time to confer. I had to act with imminent death staring me in the face."

"You saved Traken?" Nyssa asked, astonished.

"I would have hardly been a good Keeper if I hadn't," said Luvic with a twinkle in his eye. "Of course, I've come up with several better plans since, but I didn't think of them at the time - so our whole Union has had to deal with the consequences of what I did come up with.

"There was a charged-vacuum emboitment within a few light years of us," the Keeper explained. "I used the power of the Source to send the entire Union through it."

"You moved six whole solar systems?" Nyssa gasped.

"Only the stars, and the ships, and the planets with life. I left the gas giants and asteroids where they were."

"But something went wrong," Adana supplied.

"Yes," the Keeper admitted. "I took the first solution I could think of. I had no time to check what kind of pocket universe existed on the other side of the emboitment. I saved our people and our planets, but nearly burned out the Source doing it, and the universe we arrived in wasn't very friendly to organic life."

"Unfriendly in what way?" Adana inquired.

The Keeper smiled sheepishly. "The pocket universe had much larger amounts of background radiation than we're used to," he said. "We'd only been in R-Space for a few hours when people started getting sick. We countered the radiation with inoculations as best we could, but we had to evacuate the Byrne system within a week of being there. It took us six years, but eventually we were able to replenish the Source, and I thought I could transport the remaining five systems back."

"And that didn't work?" Nyssa asked.

Luvic shook his head sadly. "Instead of moving five systems at once and risking another burn-out, I decided to move one at a time. But our scientists underestimated - I underestimated - the stress that moving through the charged-vacuum emboitment would place on people already suffering from radiation poisoning.

"A fifth of our people didn't survive the trip home. Almost all of us are sick or have been rendered infertile. I can't move the other four planets home at that cost. But we can't stay in R-Space, either. We have to evacuate in the next six months or there won't be any of us left."

"Then why did you wait so long?" Adana asked.

Luvic looked at her strangely. "We've only been back in N-Space for four days."

Nyssa and Adana exchanged glances. "It's been twenty years for me," Nyssa told him.

Luvic's jaw dropped. "Twenty years? I had no idea. It hasn't been seven for me since the entropy hit. Time must flow more slowly in R-Space."

The Keeper looked at the two women with sad, earnest eyes. "I would never ask this if there were any other choice, Nyssa, but our people are dying. I must ask New Urbanka to build android bodies for us."

Nyssa and Adana explained the Urbankan debate on sharing their technology - one Nyssa had argued just that day. Luvic elaborated on the political situation on Traken, and revealed that considerable discussion had already taken place.

"It has been a hard choice for all of us - let our culture die out entirely or preserve an android facsimile of it," he said. "Not everyone wants to make the change, and of course we won't force anyone who doesn't wish it. But the majority of us do, and regardless of my own feelings on the matter I will respect all Trakenians' wishes.

"But I am not impartial or objective. We are in the situation we are precisely because I moved the Traken Union through a charged-vacuum emboitment. Because I am connected to the Source, I will go on living for hundreds of years, even if I am the last Trakenian left alive. I would be the immortal who failed. The Keepership would be a curse.

"Naturally we would keep Urbankan technology a secret. I am even prepared to move Traken close to New Urbanka and bring the other four solar systems into this part of space if that is what the Urbankans desire."

Nyssa gathered her papers and stood, then took Adana's hand. "We will speak to the government at once," she announced.

Even the Justice Minister agreed that New Urbanka should come to the aid of the Traken Union, and within a week the Urbankan colony ship was on its way. Princess Villagra led a team to help the survivors on Traken itself, and Lin Futu took the ship through the charged-vacuum emboitment to the four planets still in R-Space.

Nyssa's first sight of Traken in twenty years - a planet she had believed destroyed - brought tears to her eyes. After planetfall, the tears returned when she took Adana to the house that she had shared with her parents.

The Fosters had been kind enough to throw sheets over the furniture years ago. Nyssa and Adana were scheduled to begin work with Villagra's group the morning after their arrival, but for now they busied themselves with making the home liveable again.

Nyssa became emotional as she showed Adana the portraits of her parents, then of her father with her stepmother. The pair held each other and kissed, then continued dusting and vacuuming. As the night deepened, they sat down on the bed Nyssa had slept in as a young woman, stared into each other's eyes, and entered a meditative trance together.

They awoke at daybreak and prepared to go to work. Nyssa looked through her wardrobe at the Trakenian clothes she hadn't seen in years - but which still fit, of course - and chose a burgundy doublet and skirt.

When Nyssa emerged from the bedroom, she saw her spouse looking in the mirror - wearing a deep green Trakenian gown with light green and blue highlights. The Urbankan had curled her long hair, and had foregone her usual side-part for one in the middle. Her golden tresses gleamed in the candlelight as they tumbled over her shoulders.

"Does it look all right?" Adana asked shyly.

Her lips pressed together, Nyssa nodded. She walked over to Adana and caressed her cheek. "That dress was my stepmother Kassia's. It suits you."

"Thank you," Adana said. "I love Traken just as I thought I would, Nyssa. I know we've only been here a few hours, but you're finally home. Do you want to stay?"

Nyssa smiled. "Perhaps. I've imagined coming home so many times - but we have responsibilities on New Urbanka."

"I will go wherever you go," Adana said, "and stay wherever you stay. If you want to make our home here, love, I will come with you."

The two kissed tenderly.

Over two-thirds of Traken's survivors had agreed to continue their lives as androids. The construction of their bodies had begun on the ship, and more were built on Traken itself. The copying of memories and personalities into nanochips began at once, with those closest to death prioritized. The Urbankans and Trakenians had agreed that no one would be euthanized, no matter how ill. Instead, they would be kept comfortable until they died naturally. Though this meant that the Trakenians in android bodies would not remember the last days of their former lives, Trakenian representative Rion pointed out that losing a few days' memories of a hospital stay meant little in the context of a person's life as a whole.

After setting up the system, Nyssa quickly commenced work in the hospital where she supervised preparing the consenting Trakenians. Villagra and Adana's duties included counselling them when they awakened in their new bodies. She reflected on how different this was from her own experience: she helped only those who wanted android bodies, with no trickery or coercion involved.

Nyssa spent what little free time she had reconnecting with people she'd known before her departure.

"It's disconcerting," she explained to Adana one evening, "becoming re-acquainted. It's been twenty years for me, but less than seven for them. I look the same as I always did, but they look older even though less time has passed!"

Adana caressed her hand. "Is it getting easier?"

"I know better what to expect now," Nyssa admitted, "but it's still jarring. Every single time!"

Nyssa's worst surprise came the next morning. She and her colleagues - both Urbankan and Trakenian - were working in an intensive care unit when she heard someone call her name.

The speaker was an old woman. "Nyssa?" she croaked.

Nyssa sat down on the chair by the woman's gurney and smiled at her reassuringly. "Yes, I'm Nyssa."

"You don't look a day older," the woman said with a cough.

Yes, I'm hearing that a lot, Nyssa thought, but didn't say it out loud.

"It's Rheela," the woman said.

Nyssa started, and the woman raised a feeble hand. "Do I look that bad?"

"No, of course not," Nyssa said gently - but it was hard to see her friend in the woman beside her.

Rheela had been a year older than Nyssa, but they had attended many of the same university classes in their mid-teens and had become good friends. Rheela's hair was white, her skin wrinkled and blistered. She looked like a woman of ninety, not one of forty.

"I was on Byrne," Rheela explained, unprompted. "We got the worst of the radiation." She shifted slightly in her bed, and winced.

"You're going to do the transfer?" Nyssa asked. Like the others, she couldn't bring herself to say "Flesh Time."

Rheela nodded tiredly. "It isn't the future I would have chosen, Nyssa, but any future would be better than this. I don't want any more painkillers, but it hurts a bit to move."

A technician stepped over and whispered in Nyssa's ear.

"It's time," Nyssa told her friend.

"What do I do?" Rheela asked simply.

Nyssa took the woman's hand. "Just relax," she told her. "Take deep breaths. Be calm, look into my eyes, and trust me."

Rheela and Nyssa locked eyes, and the old woman nodded.

"That's right, Rheela," Nyssa whispered. "Let yourself relax... feel yourself relaxing. Look deep into my eyes and relax completely, so completely. Your eyelids are getting heavy. They are getting heavier, and heavier, and heavier. You are feeling so sleepy. Sleep, Rheela, sleep." Nyssa gently snapped her fingers.

Her friend's eyes closed, and her breathing became deep and regular.

"Now you are asleep," Nyssa whispered to her hypnotised friend. "Soon you will recall all past life, and I will see you when you wake up."

Nyssa nodded to the technician, who wheeled Rheela away.

Nyssa reflected on her own experience for a moment. I never thought I'd be in the position that Enlightenment was, she thought. But technology isn't good or evil in itself; it's the use to which it's put. And I will use it for good, for virtue, for people's right to make their own choices - and so will everyone else if I have any say in the matter!

Someone called Nyssa's name two hours later. She turned to see a young woman with red-auburn curls smiling at her. "Rheela!" Nyssa exclaimed, and the two friends embraced.

Her friend looked twenty-five - slightly younger, perhaps, than her physical age - and wore an elegant purple Trakenian gown. Her skin was unblemished by age or radiation. "You look amazing," Nyssa said.

"I never thought I'd say this, given this body's synthetic," Rheela said, "but I feel like myself again." She did a pirouette, then winked at Nyssa. "What do you think of my eyes? I darkened them a bit."

Nyssa smiled at her friend. "It suits you."

"They say I can go home," Rheela said. "Can we meet later?"

"Of course, I would love that," Nyssa promised.

The women embraced, then Rheela danced her way from the hospital room.

Nyssa excused herself, then walked to the recovery room - where she found the old Rheela lying in her bed.

She opened her eyes when Nyssa sat beside her. "They say I've completed the process," the old woman croaked. "Have you seen the body they prepared for me?"

Nyssa nodded, and took the old woman's hand. "I have. It's beautiful, Rheela. You'll love it."

"Maybe," her friend wheezed, "I can have my eyes... done a little darker. I think... it would look good." She yawned. "Oh, I'm sorry, Nyssa, I'm just... so tired."

"Rest now," Nyssa told her friend. "Everything will be all right. I promise."

Rheela closed her eyes, and Nyssa stayed with her until the end.

Five weeks later, Luvic brought the rest of the Traken Union back from R-Space - one star system at a time. As promised, the worlds were relocated to the same sector as New Urbanka. Nyssa, the officials, and the astronomers were surprised to see the charged-vacuum emboitment close a few hours after the last Trakenian planet passed through it.

"We couldn't have timed it better," Nyssa said.

"I don't know whether to be relieved or frightened," Letas said. "That was far too small a margin of error for my taste. Why did it close then? Why not tomorrow? Why not yesterday?"

"No doubt we'll be studying this phenomenon for years to come," Taryn agreed.

"All-in-all it went well," Nyssa told Adana when she arrived home. "The Traken Union is restored, all five worlds close to New Urbanka, and we saved the great majority of the population."

The two women had decided to stay on Traken. Since Nyssa's family's house was now hers, the two were in the process of moving into the master bedroom. Nyssa's hair tumbled loosely down her back, and Adana had braided hers over her right shoulder.

"I'm so glad to hear it," Adana said. "I'm so happy for you, for all your people. I'm glad that Urbankan technology was used for something good."

"We couldn't have done it without you," Nyssa told her. "I could not have done all I did to help prepare people without everything you taught me about hypnosis."

They heard a soft whooshing sound behind them. Nyssa and Adana turned to see the Keeper of Traken sitting in his chair in the centre of the room.

Nyssa smiled at him, and Adana rose and curtseyed. "Keeper."

Luvic inclined his head respectfully. "Nyssa. Adana. I cannot do enough to express my gratitude for the help you and your people have given mine. It is a great change from the life we had, but I hope that we - together - can prevent this second chance from becoming stagnation."

"I hope it too, Keeper," Adana said. "In the time I've known Nyssa, and in the weeks I've been on your planet, I have come to love your people." She spread her arms. "Your science, your art, your architecture - there is so much we can teach each other. I see in Traken everything I hope New Urbanka can be."

"I'm glad to hear it," the Keeper said. "Which is why I'm here. I just came from a meeting with New Urbanka's Minister of State. Adana, he told me he would like to appoint you Ambassador to Traken. Since I needed to speak with you anyway I offered to carry the message."

Adana blinked, then grinned. "That's wonderful news! Thank you, Keeper! I will contact Bigon at once."

Luvic held up one hand. "Wait a moment before making your decision. The other news is I would like Nyssa to become a Consul."

Nyssa looked at the Keeper, then at Adana, then back to the Keeper. "Me? Keeper, I'm too young!"

The Keeper smiled. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Nyssa, but you are forty years old - which is older than your stepmother was when she became a Consul. You have the knowledge and the experience for the role, and it is yours unless you decline."

"Thank you, Luvic!" Nyssa said enthusiastically.

The Keeper held up a hand. "Don't thank me yet. Under Traken law, a Consul cannot be married to a foreign ambassador due to conflict of interest. The law was written for good reasons and I cannot change it. As much as Bigon and I would like you both, you cannot serve at the same time. We have discussed it, and decided to leave the choice up to you."

Adana and Nyssa gazed at each other. "I'm sorry, Keeper, we will have to talk about it," Nyssa finally said.

Luvic nodded. "Take all the time you need."

With a whoosh, the Keeper was gone.

The two women were left staring at each other. "Adana, is this something you want?" Nyssa asked.

Adana thought a moment, then nodded. "I do, but - Nyssa, not at the expense of something you want. I will be happy as long as I can stay with you."

"I remember you telling me once that with my position in the Ministry you felt like you were standing in my shadow," Nyssa reminded her.

Adana smiled. "And you replied that I was the most beautiful woman you'd ever seen and you felt like you were standing in mine!"

The two women laughed and kissed. "Let's think about this," Nyssa said as they sat down on the sofa. "If you take the job, I will have to resign as Minister of Science to stay with you. I'm not going to stay on New Urbanka if you're coming here."

Adana nodded. "If you become a Consul I will stay on Traken. I can continue teaching here as easily as I could there." She paused. "I will have to learn Traken's curriculum, though."

Nyssa took her spouse's hand. "Then it looks like Traken is our future, whatever we decide." She thought for a moment. "I've been Minister for nearly five years. Perhaps it is time for me to step aside so you can have this opportunity. You deserve it, Adana."

Adana pondered Nyssa's words. "No," she finally said. "This is about more than me. You are in a unique position to help everyone here, Nyssa. You will be able to do more good as a Consul than I would as an ambassador."

"You have a right to your feelings too," Nyssa told her. "You can think about yourself as well as others!"

"I love you, Nyssa," Adana said. "I have loved you since the first moment I saw you. I do think about myself. I'm married to the most amazing woman - the most amazing person - I have ever known. If I can support you that is reward enough."

Nyssa kissed her lovingly.

TWO WEEKS LATER

"Friends," the Keeper announced, "We are safely back in N-Space and the Traken Union has been restored - thanks to all your efforts and hard work, and thanks to the assistance of our friends from New Urbanka. Today we remember the Consuls we have lost - Seron, Kassia, Tremas and Katura."

A moment of silence followed.

"It is my honour to present you our new Consuls."

Adana grinned at Nyssa and squeezed her hand.

"Consul Letas." The attendees began to applaud, and kept clapping as each Consul stepped up and joined the Keeper on the dais. "Consul Margon. Consul Rion. Consul Taryn. Consul Nyssa."

Nyssa clapped along with everyone else as Luvic named her colleagues - but she had to pause and collect herself when her own name was called, as the crowd gave her a standing ovation. She rose, walked through the cheering crowd, and took her place beside Luvic and her four colleagues.

"I bless you all," the Keeper said. "My truest friends. We now embrace a destiny none of us ever dreamed of, and it will bring challenges. It will take generations for our flora and fauna to recover from our sojourn in R-Space, but we have new tools - and time - with which to fix them. Yet our new tools will bring their own problems, some we cannot foresee. But we will meet those challenges as we move forward into the future - together."

Nyssa saw Rheela's joyful face among the scores of others and smiled back at her. She was elated to see all her people celebrate, but the adoration in Adana's eyes touched her most of all.

The End


End file.
